Ninja Daycare
by Silberias
Summary: Kakashi didn't want to give up Naruto. And Iruka didn't particularly want to take care of the demon container. But when a Jounin ANBU hands you a baby, you do NOT drop it.


The silver haired man standing on Iruka's doorstep was most definitely from the ANBU. The dead look in his eye, the slack-but-alert set to his shoulders, the way his feet were just casually positioned in the first stance of The Vicious Eagle kata. Iruka barely knew how to _execute_ an Eagle kata, let alone the one rumored to be the most difficult of all. This man was _definitely_ from the ANBU.

But the person he brought with him was most definitely NOT. The person this man held was toddler—maybe a very young child?—who didn't _look_ like the man's bastard son. A wild tuft of golden blond hair escaped the blanket the kid was wrapped in, framing a face marked by…whisker scars? The silver haired ANBU-in-all-but-uniform held the boy protectively, arms visibly immobile. Iruka was sure that if he tried to take the kid, this man would kill him nearly instantly. So Iruka's arms stayed at his sides.

"Sandaime says he needs someone more stable to look after Naruto. I have become overqualified for safeguarding him—the villagers know better than to attack him at this point. He is alone." There was a momentary heat to the man's eye—Iruka refused to think that _the_ Hatake Kakashi was at his door with the Kyuubi container in his arms, he much preferred the silver haired man—at the word _alone_.

"You know. He has no family, no friends, no one. I cannot be there for him, so I am entrusting him to you. He's old enough to read and write, and he will be starting at the Academy on his fourth birthday. You need only make sure he eats and can dress himself, I've already assured that the vendors will not overcharge you on what you buy for him. His name is Naruto. U-zu-ma-ki Na-ru-to. A human being, and one deserving of your kindness."

_Uzumaki Naruto_. The Kyuubi container. Inside this little boy lurked the creature which had taken Iruka's parents. And the scariest man in the village was demanding that he, Umino Iruka, care for the boy.

"I've taught him a little of saving, please continue the lesson." And with that, the silver haired man in the Jounin flak jacket thrust the sleeping little boy into Iruka's arms. Iruka had no time to struggle or adjust to the new burden, because faster than he could blink the Jounin had poked and prodded him into place.

"H-how old is he?" the Jounin's silence was as though he'd actually scoffed at Iruka. Elites were always saying things without uttering a sound, and it was annoying.

"Surely you know how old he is. He's just two months shy of his fourth birthday." The silver haired man, who couldn't possibly be Kakashi of the Sharingan (other people in the village had silver hair, right? Iruka thought to his friend Mizuki, who had silver hair with a bluish tinge) reached forward and ruffled the kid's hair.

"You need to keep him close on his birthday, Umino-san. That night is when the villagers are most likely to forget the debt they owe him. The ANBU will surround your apartment that day, so have no fear of trying to defend him alone. They will be under orders to defend him until their own deaths." At Iruka's stricken look the man's eye softened for a moment.

"Only one person has ever actually died though, and that was three years ago now." With that, the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Iruka looked down at his new charge, innocent and small. Sure he was training to be an Academy teacher, and one of the capacities of that job was to care occasionally for the village orphans but…why _this_ orphan? Why this adorable, innocent, demon-possessed orphan? Leaves swirled again, making a mess of the hallway. The not-Kakashi appeared again, leaning forward to look directly into Iruka's eyes.

"I forgot to tell you. Sandaime has run chakra and stability tests on Naruto-kun, and he is fully dominant in his own mind. He's in no way controlled by the fox, and Sandaime doesn't know if the demon fox will ever be able to assert any kind of will onto Naruto. Love him as any other orphan, Umino-san." And then he was gone, and Naruto started to wake up, wriggling out of Iruka's arms. Iruka was frozen in place as the bluest eyes opened up to look at him, puzzled at the new face.

There was no way that this tiny boy could have destroyed the village, this boy was just another orphan in need of some ramen or dango.

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